Charles Ingram | Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Wiki 15 & 18 September, 2001 (original) 21 April, 2003 (first broadcast) Money won £1,000,000 (later stripped) Charles Ingram, a former British Army major from Derbyshire, was a contestant on series 10 of the UK version of the show on the shows scheduled for broadcast on 15 & 18 September, 2001. After originally winning £1,000,000, the prize was cancelled after it was revealed that he had cheated his way through most of the questions. As a result, the episodes that he appeared in were not actually broadcast until 21 April, 2003. Contents Put these words in the order they occur in the title of the Agatha Christie thriller.

• A: Nile • C: Death • D: The From the 8 remaining contestants, 7 got it right, but Charles (with a time of 3.97 seconds) was the fastest to correctly answer C-B-D-A, making it into the Hot Seat. Charles's Run to the Million Edit On the first night of his game, when he got into the hot seat, he got through the first four questions without using any lifelines. On the fifth question, he still didn't use a lifeline, but took a while to answer. On both questions 6 and 7, he used a lifeline on each of them. He used two of his lifelines early on. After 7 questions, he won £4,000 but then the show ran out of time, so he had to return the next day to continue. £100 (1 of 15) - Not Timed On which of these would you air laundry? • A: Clothes dog • D: Clothes pig £200 (2 of 15) - Not Timed What name is given to a person who is against increasing the powers of the European Union?

• A: Eurosceptic £300 (3 of 15) - Not Timed What is butterscotch? £500 (4 of 15) - Not Timed Which of these is the nickname for a famous Scottish army regiment? • A: Black Cat £1,000 (5 of 15) - Not Timed The Normans, who invaded and conquered England in 1066, spoke which language? • A: German £2,000 (6 of 15) - Not Timed In 'Coronation Street', who is Audrey's daughter? • D: Sally Ask the Audience Results: A: 4% • B: 89% • C: 3% • D: 4% Charles did not know, so he used his first lifeline, He asked the audience , which gave a resounding 4-89-3-4 vote. Charles went with the audience, and won £2,000. £4,000 (7 of 15) - Not Timed The River Foyle is found in which part of the United Kingdom?

• C: Northern Ireland • D: Wales Charles did not know, so he decided to phone his friend Gerald, who was 99% sure it was Northern Ireland. He went with him and won £4,000. Then, the klaxon called time and Charles would return on £4,000 with 1 lifeline still available. Having watched and recorded several episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? , the Millionaire team thought that if you used two of your lifelines by the end of the night, you've usually struggled up to that point and you're expected to last only a couple of questions and be gone. The host Chris Tarrant thought that Charles chances of winning £32,000 were the chances of going to the moon in a rocket. Since he only had one lifeline left Chris expected Charles to get to £16,000 and be on his way. He was in for a big surprise... Meanwhile, Charles and his wife Diana Ingram , who accompanied Charles in the audience called one of the Fastest Finger Contestants. Tecwen Whittock , who would appear on the next show that night.

It is here, it is alleged, where Tecwen joins the Ingram's scam to cheat to the million, and this is where the "Major Fraud" begins. Diana Ingram later claimed she alone had spoken with him and purely to wish him good luck. Night 2 Edit On the next night, before starting the game, Chris asked Charles if he had a strategy. Charles said that he was a little defensive on the last show so he's going on the counter-attack. In fact, this reply, given the actual facts of what happened on the previous night, is incomprehensible. It appears that Ingram was simply setting the scene for what he was about to do. In saying that he was 'too defensive' on the previous night, Ingram also said that he had been too negative and had talked himself out of the answers which 'I knew'. However, this is simply false. In regard to the question concerning who is Audrey's daughter in Coronation Street, Ingram said outright "I have never watched it...I don't know the answer". He certainly didn't, as he claimed, talk himself out of that answer. He didn't know it, and he said so.

The second question on which Ingram used a lifeline, had him saying exactly the same thing. The question was 'In which part of the UK is the River Foyle?' Ingram's response was 'I have never heard of it.' Again, it should be noted, he never talked himself out of the answer. He said conclusively that he didn't know the answer, and this is why he needed to use his 'phone a friend' lifeline. Ingram's claim that he was going to be more positive, it seems, was simply an attempt to forewarn that should his answers or behaviour be deemed erratic, it was because he was being more 'attacking'. What everyone did not know was that his real strategy was to cheat. On nearly every question that night, he would try to say all four choices by giving a humourous comment on each of them. Then Tecwen, who's the FFC seat right behind Charles, would cough immediately after Charles said the correct answer. During the later questions, Charles chose to play it safe and check around all the answers multiple times leading to more constant coughing from Tecwen. £8,000 (8 of 15) - Not Timed Who was the second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy?

• A: Adnan Khashoggi • C: Aristotle Onassis • D: Rupert Murdoch Charles immediately thought it was Aristotle Onassis, and Tecwen coughed immediately after Charles said his name. After two coughs, Charles was confident and went for it. £16,000 (9 of 15) - Not Timed Emmenthal is a cheese from which country? • A: France • C: Netherlands • D: Switzerland This is the only question of the night that Charles knew the answer to without getting help from Tecwen. £32,000 (10 of 15) - Not Timed Who had a hit UK album with 'Born To Do It', released in 2000? • C: A1 • D: Craig David Charles and Tecwen did not know the answer to the question, so the plan was out the window. Charles used the 50:50 and was left with A1 and Craig David. Charles needed help, but none was coming. Knowing that her every move was being recorded, Diana Ingram, who was in the audience, took a huge gamble and coughed twice, hinting that the second answer is correct.

After believing for a long time that it was A1, Charles changed his mind and went with Craig David. £64,000 (11 of 15) - Not Timed Gentlemen v Players was an annual match between amateurs and professionals of which sport? • A: Lawn tennis • C: Polo • D: Cricket As the cheats play for more money, the coughs become more constant. Charles checked all the answers and two coughs from Tecwen told Charles it was Cricket. £125,000 (12 of 15) - Not Timed 'The Ambassadors', in the National Gallery, is a paiting by which artist? • A: Van Eyck • C: Michelangelo • D: Rembrandt It took two coughs from Tecwen for Charles to be certain that it was Holbein. At this point, the gaps between Tecwen's coughing and Charles being certain of an answer started becoming shorter. The team believed that if Charles chose to walk away at that moment, they wouldn't have caught him, because they wouldn't have lots of evidence that he was cheating.

If Charles chose to go higher, which he did, chances are a lot more coughs would be caught on tape and therefore a lot more evidence for the Millionaire team. So far, Tecwen didn't cough lots of times, but he would start coughing a lot more constantly as greed took over and Charles kept going. £250,000 (13 of 15) - Not Timed What type of garment is an Anthony Eden? • A: Overcoat • C: Shoe • D: Tie This was another question where Tecwen did not know the answer, so he decided to ask one of the Fastest Finger Contestants next to him if he knew. The contestant Tecwen asked was Tom Lucy, who started becoming suspcious after Tecwen asked him. Tom thought that Tecwen turned towards him and asked him just for something to say but once Charles made it to the million, as Tom knew the answer to both the £250,000 and £1,000,000 questions, he knew exactly what was going on for sure. Tom/Tecwen conversation caught on tape: Tecwen: What's that? Tecwen: That's what I thought.

Tom: Geez...I wish I was up there. Tecwen: You ever worn one of them? Tom: I haven't but Anthony Eden wore them - very popular in his days. Armed with the answer, Tecwen was ready. On this question, it took three coughs this time instead of two for Charles to choose hat. At this point, the two men were starting to over do it. £500,000 (14 of 15) - Not Timed Baron Haussmann is best known for his planning of which city? • A: Rome • C: Berlin • D: Athens On this question, Charles nearly blew the scam. Right off the bat, he thought it was Berlin as he believed Baron Haussmann had a German name. This was wrong, leading Chris Tarrant to reply "Charles ten minutes ago, you thought it was A1." He forgot to slowly say all the answers, not giving Tecwen a chance to help. Tecwen then took a huge risk by coughing and loudly whispering 'No!'. He broke the code by creating a signal that meant that Charles was about to give an incorrect answer.

But Charles continued to think it was Berlin, so Tecwen made a new signal, a nose-blow, trying to tell Charles that it was the all-stop signal. When Charles rules out Paris, Tecwen coughed hinting that it was correct, stopping Charles mid-sentence. Charles once again thought it was Berlin, and Tecwen once again did his all-stop signal. All the noise Tecwen was making started drawing the attention of a contestant named Larry Whitehurst who started to wonder if he was sending Charles a signal. Larry did not know the answer but carefully listened as Charles was checking around all the answers; and when he said Paris, he heard Tecwen's cough which made him suspicious. After saying Paris two more times, and hearing two more coughs from Tecwen, Charles finally went with Paris. This made a total of four coughs and two nose-blows in a single question, nobody aware that Charles was cheating except for Tom, Larry and future contestant Robert Brydges . £1,000,000 (15 of 15) - Not Timed A number one followed by one hundred zeros is known by what name?

• A: Googol • C: Gigabit • D: Nanomole Larry knew the answer before the four choices came up, so he was really able to eavesdrop on the private conversation between Charles and Tecwen. Tecwen once again turned to his left and asked Tom if he knew the answer. Tom: It's a Googol. Tecwen: That's what I thought. Tecwen now had the million pound answer. Charles thought it was Nanomole. He said that he never heard of a Googol, but Tecwen had, so he coughed. Larry was waiting for Tecwen to cough after Charles said Googol; and as soon as he did, Tecwen coughed and Larry had them red-handed. At the same time, Larry did not want him to cough, but he did because he wanted to confirm his suspicion. Charles then visited all the answers again to check with Tecwen. Although he never heard of a Googol, he was actually thinking it was, even though he just thought it was a Nanomole. As he says Googol again, Tecwen coughs a second time.

Chris Tarrant reminded him that he was going for the one he never heard of, just because he never heard of it. Then, Charles checked all the answers a third time and on Googol, Tecwen delivered. After saying Googol one last time, Charles finally played Googol. Charles asked Chris not to go for a break, but he did. After coming back, Chris recapped exactly how Charles approached the million pound question. He tore up the cheque for £500,000... and announced that he just won a million pounds and said he was the most amazing contestant they've ever had... that is, until they discovered he cheated. After the show Edit After the show was over, the team started searching for evidence. They took all the tapes from the cameras and put them all up on a screen. Before long, they noticed that all the coughs were linked to the questions and finally figured out what was going on. The following week, Charles received a call from Celador Productions . He was told that there were suspicions of the activities he took part in during the recording and the suspicions were referred to the police. Therefore they wouldn't be airing the show or rewarding him with his cheque.

Charles obviously said he wasn't doing anything suspicious and said goodbye. During the phone call, Charles didn't feel upset at all. He just thanked them for telling him and hung up, not the upset reaction the Millionaire team was expecting. Post-WWTBAM Edit With that, the game was up, for Charles, Diana and Tecwen. They had no other choice but to resort to one idea: they didn't do it. Charles said he swore that he did not cheat and he didn't recall hearing any coughing. Diana claims she never met Tecwen, but throughout the night, she was looking in his direction. The jury was shown the tape of Charles's million pound run and heard all of Tecwen Whittock's coughs in isolation better than one could hear it in a broadcast. The jury found the trio guilty and the judge said to give up any hopes that they were entitled to the million. Trial aftermath Edit The Ingrams were both sentenced to 18 months in prison while Tecwen was sentenced to 12. The sentences were all suspended, something which surprised many people in view of the amount of money involved.

The Ingrams had to pay total court fees of £115,000 rather than receive the million pounds. The trio appeared on one talk show after another and their story remained the same: they didn't do it. Their reputations were ruined. They risked everything to cheat to a million and lost it all. Charles now repairs computers for a living. Robert Brydges , one of the Fastest Finger Contestants who caught Charles red-handed, started writing a book called The Third Millionaire after he, two weeks later, indeed became the show's true third millionaire. Months after the recording, Charles run was finally aired along with a couple of interviews from the team with Chris Tarrant as the host. A documentary was also aired called Who Wants to be a Millionaire Major Fraud , featuring Charles run to the million, interviews from the team and FFC's who suspected cheating and the coughs in isolation just like the jury heard them at the trial.

The documentary was followed up by a special called The Final Answer , where it was announced that Celador Productions, the company that made Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, planned to make a movie based on the fraud called Millionaire: The Movie , but over a decade has passed since the Major Fraud and the movie has not yet been seen. Since 2004, James Plaskett has been arguing with author Bob Woffinden in favour of innocence for all 3 of them. His first essay being called 'Is The Coughing Major Innocent?' Trivia Edit To date, Charles Ingram is the last UK contestant to be stripped of his prize money, the previous three contestants were Neil Muir , Sheridan Booth and Andrew Lavelle - who were all stripped of their prize money for having criminal records. Charles Ingram's Run was not repeated on Challenge, due to the 'Major Fraud.' was happening. He also cheated because of Tecwen and Diana's Help throughout the 15 questions. The only way to see his entire run without the 'Major Fraud.' episode, is to see the YouTube Source under the Trivia Article.

USATODAY.com - Show contestant found guilty of cheating Posted 4/8/2003 5:07 PM Show contestant found guilty of cheating LONDON (AP)  An army major, his wife and a college teacher were convicted Monday of using "coded coughs" to win the top prize on Britain's Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Charles Ingram maintained that luck, military training and strategy had helped him answer the $1.55 million question — "A number 1 followed by 100 zeros is known by what name?" But prosecutors said college professor Tecwen Whittock used a system involving coded coughs from his seat in the audience to guide Ingram to the correct multiple-choice response: a googol. The jury found 39-year-old Ingram, his wife Diana, 39, and Whittock, 53, guilty of deception in trying to win the contest.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin upbraided the defendants for a "shabby schoolboy trick." But he spared them jail terms, giving them suspended sentences of a year to 18 months because they had been "shamed in the most public way and your reputations ruined." They were also ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines and court costs. "I am not at all sure that it was sheer greed that motivated this offense," he said. "I am sure all three of you were besotted with quiz programs and the ambition to be successful on a major television show." Who Wants to be a Millionaire?— in which contestants must answer 15 increasingly difficult questions to win one million British pounds sterling was created in Britain in 1998. Versions of the show have since spread to dozens of countries, including the United States. Ingram, an officer in the Royal Engineers who had served as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, told Millionaire host Chris Tarrant during the September 2001 taping that he was relying on a particular "strategy and counterstrategy" to win the top prize. But producers became suspicious of Ingram's odd behavior and of coughs coming from the audience.

The winner's check was stopped while they investigated, and the episode was never broadcast. Tarrant said Ingram was "the most extraordinary contestant, constantly changing his mind from one possible answer to another, and behaving in the most erratic and hard-to-follow fashion." Prosecutors at the three-week trial said Ingram had become obsessed with winning the top prize. Both Ingrams had previously appeared on the show — Diana Ingram won $50,900 and Charles Ingram failed to get past a qualifying round. Diana Ingram wrote an unpublished book, Win A Million, in which she said her husband had spent $3,100 on calls to the show's contestant hot line. After winning a chance on the show, he practiced daily on a mock-up "Fastest Finger First" keypad his brother-in-law had made from an old calculator casing. Prosecutors said the Ingrams were tens of thousands of dollars in debt and had considered using a system of vibrating pagers to win the top prize. In the end, they colluded with Whittock, a business lecturer, who was in the audience during the taping. He blamed hay fever for his coughing.

"It goes without saying that in any large group of people, and here there was space for about 200 people in the audience, in any group of that size you will probably hear a lot of coughs, splutters, throat clearing, or whatever," prosecution lawyer Nicholas Hilliard told the jury. But analysis of the episode revealed a pattern of "coughs made on mike" from Whittock's area of the audience. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guilty, but 'Millionaire' cheats escape jail - Telegraph Guilty, but 'Millionaire' cheats escape jail By Sean O'Neill 12:01AM BST 08 Apr 2003 An Army major and his wife narrowly escaped jail yesterday after being convicted of cheating their way to the top prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with what the judge called a "shabby schoolboy trick".

Major Charles Ingram, of the Royal Engineers, his wife, Diana, and their accomplice - Tecwen Whittock, a lecturer whose 19 strategic coughs signalled correct answers to the major - were heavily fined and given suspended prison sentences. All three were found guilty of deception. Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, told the Ingrams - who, he said, had planned the dishonest scheme - to "thank your lucky stars that you are not going to prison". The judge made it clear he was not jailing them because he did not want to deprive their three daughters, aged from seven to 12, of their parents. Related Articles Trial splutters to a halt, again 01 Apr 2003 There was tension to the end of the five-week trial at Southwark Crown Court. After 13 hours and 51 minutes, the jury returned majority guilty verdicts against Ingram, 39, and Whittock, 53. But a further 20 minutes passed before the jurors came back with a guilty verdict against Mrs Ingram, 39. The Ingrams held hands as they sat side by side in the dock while the verdicts were delivered.

Mrs Ingram closed her eyes as her husband was declared guilty. As they waited for her verdict, the major kissed his wife on the cheek. The couple, from Easterton, Wilts, were jailed for 18 months, suspended for two years, fined £15,000 each and ordered to pay £10,000 each towards prosecution costs. The fines must be paid within three months. The sentences spell financial ruin - Ingram faces an Army administrative investigation which will almost certainly end his 15-year career. Whittock, of Whitchurch, Cardiff, head of business studies at Pontypridd College, was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £7,500 costs. The youngest of his four children watched from the public gallery and later left court at his father's side. "I am not at all sure it was sheer greed that motivated this offence," said the judge. "I am sure all three of you were besotted with quiz programmes and the ambition to be successful on a major television show. It was this which caused you to wonder whether you could beat and, it has to be said, cheat the system.

As for the shabby schoolboy trick you two men ultimately played, you certainly had no notion it was going to result in Charles Ingram going on to win £1 million." The judge commended the "quite excellent investigation" by Det Insp Chris White and Det Sgt Ian Williamson of Scotland Yard. The Ingrams were given tougher sentences because the judge was satisfied they devised the plan and had experimented with message pagers before using coughs . The judge told them the idea "originated with you and your party" - thought to be a guarded reference to Adrian Pollock and Marcus Powell, Mrs Ingram's brothers who featured heavily in evidence. Pollock, 40, had previously been on the programme and had written a book about it with Mrs Ingram. Powell, 35, was warned about his use of a mobile phone in the studio on the first night of the major's appearance on the show in September 2001. Pollock was bankrupted following the collapse of his internet business. Powell has a conviction for housing benefit fraud. The jury had reviewed hours of damning video evidence. Tapes of Ingram's appearance on the show - which has never been broadcast - show him making dramatic changes of mind in response to Whittock's coughs.

On the £500,000 question he seemed set on choosing the wrong answer until Whittock shouted the word "no" masked with a cough. Chris Tarrant, presenter of the quiz, said he felt no sympathy for the defendants. "This was a very cynical plan, motivated by sheer greed," he said. A spokesman for the show said: "ITV and Celador are pleased that this matter is now resolved and that the reputation and integrity of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? remain intact. "The criminal investigation was instigated to protect the show against the possibility of any wrongdoing and that action has now been vindicated." The Ministry of Defence said Ingram's conviction did not mean automatic expulsion from the Army. An investigation will be carried out under the Army General Administration Instruction (AGAI) Act but the results will not be made public. If Ingram was discharged and he proved successful in a court of appeal, he would be re-instated and given pay back-dated to the day of release, the spokesman said. All three defendants are considering whether to appeal. Ingram will face two other deception charges later this year at Salisbury Crown Court.

He has been charged with obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception after making a £32,000 insurance claim in July 2001. He claimed his house had been burgled - and antique furniture stolen - when he and his family were on holiday in Spain. Was Charles Ingram INNOCENT? New book reveals unseen evidence | Daily Mail Online Was the coughing Major INNOCENT? New book reveals unseen evidence that casts doubt on his conviction for cheating his way to £1m on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Charles Ingram won the jackpot of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2001 But two years later the former Army officer was famously convicted of cheating A court ruled he got a fellow participant to cough to alert him to the answer Since then Ingram- known as the coughing Major- says his life has been ruined Now new book Bad Show reveals evidence casting doubt on the conviction "Coughing Major" and his Welsh accomplice, who cheated their way to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? jackpot, release new book claiming innocence - Wales Online Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email It the biggest controversy in British game show history – featuring the Army Major, his wife and a Welsh college lecturer. In 2001, Major Charles Ingram answered 15 questions correctly to sensationally win the £1m jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. But as he left the studio the cheque was taken from him as suspicions began to surface that all may not have been as it seemed. Two years later he was convicted of cheating after a court ruled he had answered his questions correctly through collusion with fellow participant Tecwen Whittock, a college lecturer from Cardiff, who coughed to alert him to the right answers. Ingram’s wife Diana was also found guilty. But now a new book has been written claiming to have unseen evidence revealing all three are innocent. Whittock was a fellow contestant on the same show and was waiting in the ‘fastest finger first’ chair when the controversy unfolded. A few days after the show, Ingram received a message to call Paul Smith, managing director of Celador, the makers of the show.

Tecwen Whittock was accused of cheating to help Major Charles Ingram win £1 million prize money on the television quiz programme 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' According to reports in The Daily Mail, Smith told Ingram: “I have to tell you that we have suspicions, from viewing the recording of last Monday’s programme and subsequently studying the tapes carefully, that there were irregularities during the taping of the show in which you participated. “These suspicions have been referred to the police and thus we will not for the moment be airing the programme or indeed authorising payment of the cheque.” It was suggested that Whittock had been coughing loudly from elsewhere in the studio to indicate the correct answer. It was suggested that pagers and mobile phones had been used and that Diana was involved too. Whittock actually got into the hotseat immediately after Ingram had won £1m, but missed his £8,000 question, leaving with £1,000. The Ingrams and Whittock were arrested and the case was heard at Southwark Crown Court in the spring of 2003. All three were convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception, and given suspended prison sentences.

Now, 14 years on, Ingram is still pleading his innocence and says the whole episode has ruined his life and prevented him from ever getting another job. The 51-year-old told the Daily Mail he has had bags of vomit thrown at his home, windows broken and obscene graffiti scrawled on his walls. His car has been scratched with the word ‘cheat’. He was also forced to resign his commission, leaving the Army in disgrace, he told the Daily Mail. These days he has given up trying to get a job and now helps his wife, herself a former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant and a game show enthusiast, run a stall at craft fairs selling her own hand-made jewellery. Charles Ingram and his wife Diana The man who was nicknamed the ‘Coughing Major’ also fixes computers for friends and is trying his hand as a novelist. He told the Daily Mail: “People who are self-employed, who rely on the customer for their direct income — there’s nothing more difficult.” “Sometimes we do sell an enormous amount”, added Diana, a former civil servant and nursery school assistant. “But at £20 for many pieces, you need to sell huge quantities to make back your costs.

A lot of shows that we do just don’t pay.” The Ingrams, along with Whittock, claimed there are a number of factors which point to their innocence including the fact they did not know each other and that the vital coughs came from other people. The book claims there was no evidence Ingram had ever been in touch with Whittock before or after the show. It said Diana Ingram and Whittock knew each other through their love of game shows but that she only spoke to him before the recording to wish him luck. It suggests it was “complete chance” that the two were on the show the same day because Whittock was a ‘rollover contestant’ from the day before. The book explains how Whittock’s respiratory function had been tested as part of the defence’s case. It claimed that the respiratory expert, Professor Alyn Morice from Hull University, found him to have been suffering from two conditions which cause chronic coughing and that that these would have been made worse by a hot tv studio which it suggests could have made him cough during the programme.

Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major, is written by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett and will be published by Bojangles Books on January 29 at £20. Like us on Facebook Most Read Most Recent Most Read Most Recent ITV shows from Blind Date to Downton that pulled in the viewers - BT Print this story Happy 60th birthday ITV! As Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster celebrates becoming a sexagenarian, here’s our celebration of some groundbreaking shows aired over its 60 years. 1. The Naked Civil Servant (PA) Broadcast in 1975, this classic TV drama centres around flamboyant British eccentric Quentin Crisp and a society outraged by his openly gay lifestyle. A landmark of British television, it features a Bafta-winning performance by its star John Hurt. 2. Cold Feet (Neil Marland/ITV) This acclaimed ITV drama aired from 1998-2003 and starred James Nesbitt, Helen Baxendale, John Thomson, Fay Ripley, Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris and Kimberley Joseph.

Cold Feet stands out for winning over both TV critics and viewers as it depicted the lives and loves of three 30-something couples in Manchester with real heart. One of ITV’s biggest shows of the late 1990s, some described it as the UK’s version of Friends. 3. Upstairs, Downstairs (PA) On Sunday October 10, 1971 costume drama Upstairs, Downstairs made its debut. Co-created by its star Jean Marsh, it depicted the lives of the masters and servants of London’s 165 Eaton Place. The landmark TV serial went on to win numerous awards including two Baftas, two Royal Television Society awards, three Writers Guild Awards, eight Emmys and a Golden Globe. 4. Downton Abbey (Nick Briggs/Carnival Films) Tackling a similar theme to Upstairs, Downstairs, this ITV period drama focuses on an aristocratic Edwardian family and their servants. When it premiered on Sunday September 26, 2010, few could have foreseen what a smash it would go on to become, but Downton is a bona fide phenomenon.

It has won numerous national and international awards and been viewed by an estimated global audience of over 120 million. In addition, its place in popular culture is sealed thanks to spoofs from the likes of The Simpsons, Comic Relief, Sesame Street and, er, rapper P Diddy. 5. Hillsborough (Ian West/PA) This moving, searing, fictionalised account of the horrific events that led to the loss of 96 lives is from the pen of Jimmy McGovern. On 15 April 1989, the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield United’s Hillsborough Stadium ended in tragedy. This award-winning drama starred Christopher Eccleston and Ricky Tomlinson and was credited with keeping the families’ fight for justice alive. 6. Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV) ITV’s award-winning hit series is unlike any other show currently airing on British television. Featuring daring stunts, hilarious sketches, pranks and surprises, Ant and Dec’s much-loved series first aired in 2002 before taking a hiatus in 2010. It returned better than ever in 2013. 7.

Pop Idol (Myung Jung Kim/PA) The search for a pop star was created by Simon Fuller and ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003 with judges Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman and Neil Fox. The first series was a huge ratings winner for ITV, with more than 13 million people tuning in to see Will Young beat Gareth Gates. Pop Idol ushered in a new wave of talent shows including, of course, The X Factor. 8. Brideshead Revisited (PA) ITV’s award-winning drama debuted on Monday October 12, 1981 to great acclaim and impressive ratings. Based on Evelyn Waugh’s best-seller of the same name, it raised the bar for television dramas in terms of production, cast and prestige. Brideshead made stars of future Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, who went on to win a Bafta and a Golden Globe for his role as Sebastian Flyte. Theatrical heavyweights Lord Olivier (who took home a best supporting actor in a mini-series Emmy) and Sir John Gielgud were also on top form. 9.

Coronation Street (Joseph Scanlon/ITV) Britain’s longest-running television soap aired its first episode on Friday December 9, 1960 at 7pm. Set in the fictional northern town of Weatherfield, its down-to-earth residents were characters viewers could easily identify with such as battleaxe Ena Sharples (played by Violet Carson) and flirty Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix). It’s ongoing popularity means it takes pride of place in ITV’s celebrations, with a live episode to mark the broadcaster’s 60th year. 10. Prime Suspect (ITV) On Sunday April 7, 1991 viewers got their first taste of Lynda La Plante’s hard-hitting drama series Prime Suspect. Helen Mirren starred as the hard-edged, chain-smoking Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, a woman who had to battle for her career in a very male-dominated working environment. The cop series was a sensation for ITV, catapulting Mirren to international fame and returning for further instalments until the downbeat ending in 2006. 11.

Spitting Image (PA) Satirical puppet show Spitting Image premiered on Sunday February 26, 1984 and lampooned famous figures of the day. No target was safe – and that included the royal family. The show sparked outrage with its portrayal of the Queen Mother as a gin-swigging Brummie and Princess Diana as somewhat ditzy. The 1980s series raked in the ratings and defined a generation of British politicians, with a pinstripe suit-wearing Margaret Thatcher and fellow Conservative MP Norman Tebbit as a leather-clad skinhead as standouts. 12. Blind Date (Carmen Valino/PA) A lorra lorra laffs with the late Cilla Black in her seminal Saturday night dating series. The nation watched transfixed as couples fell in love or, more often than not, in hate. Cilla surprised her ITV bosses by quitting the series live on air in 2003. She had presented the programme since its inception 18 years before. 13.

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (PA) Starring Timothy Spall, Kevin Whately, Tim Healey and Jimmy Nail, the comedy drama followed a motley crew of British construction workers as they took on jobs in Dusseldorf and further afield. Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais’ brilliantly-written show first aired on ITV in 1983 for two series before transferring to the BBC in 2002. 14. Minder (PA) They could be so good for us! No list of ITV classics would be complete without the comedy-drama centring around dodgy London entrepreneur Arthur Daley (George Cole) and his former boxer of a ‘minder’ Terry McCann (Dennis Waterman). Running from 1979-1994, Minder captured the essence of Thatcher’s “enterprise” Britain with the rather shady Daley ducking and diving his way through questionable “nice little earners” each week. The tightly scripted episodes showcased the comic brilliance of the late George Cole who has left us all a superb legacy. 15.Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (PA) Who wants to win a million pounds? We all do.

Little wonder the great British public could not get enough of this quiz show despite host Chris Tarrant repeatedly asking every contestant if they’d given their “final answer”. In 2013, after 15 years in the hot seat, Tarrant made the decision to leave. But during the show’s heyday, it was a ratings-banker for ITV and a significant driver of revenue. What is more, it produced a moment of infamy in 2003 when Army major Charles Ingram was found guilty of cheating his way to the top prize by using a coughing accomplice in the audience. Bad Show | Online Book Shop | Bob Woffinden Online Book Shop Bad Show (Hardback) by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett Bad Show (Hardback) by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett £15.00 Charles Ingram, a major in the British Army, became the third winner of the million-pound prize on ITV’s top-rated Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? But his victory was short-lived. After it was suggested that a fellow contestant had helped him with the questions by coughing to indicate the correct answers, Ingram was stripped of his prize and charged with fraud offences.

He has always maintained that he won the prize fairly. Now for the first time we hear the untold story. Add to basket Reviews (1) Product Description On 10 September 2001, Major Charles Ingram won the £1million prize on ITV’s top-rated quiz show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Glitter and confetti showered down on him and his wife, Diana. He was feted as the programme’s third million-pound winner. But within a week his triumph has turned to dust. Allegations were made that he was cheating and that the coughing of a fellow contestant had guided him to the correct answers. ITV called in the Metropolitan Police. In 2003, eighteen months after the programme recording, Charles and Diana were both found guilty. These developments became newsworthy on television and radio bulletins across the world. More than half-a-million newspaper articles were written about the supposed ‘coughing’ plot. ITV’s documentary about its case was watched by over sixteen million viewers in the UK and was sold throughout the world. Ingram had to resign his commission in the army. He lost not only the million-pound prize but also everything he already had.

He faced life as a ruined man. But what really happened? BAD SHOW tells the true story of the events of that night, and what occurred during the months beforehand and what happened afterwards. For all the extraordinary levels of publicity that the case has received, it is a story that has never been told before. At the heart of this story lies a grossly unfair trial, in which ethical standards were brushed aside so that innocent people could be convicted. About the Authors BOB WOFFINDEN is a former documentaries producer for ITV. He has been associate editor of New Musical Express and worked for the BBC’s magazine, The Listener. He has written about matters of British justice for over thirty years. His books include Miscarriages of Justice and Hanratty. JAMES PLASKETT is a chess grandmaster who was the 1990 British champion. In 2005, he won £250,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Reviews The best moments of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire as Chris Tarrant leaves the show | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV | Daily Express TV & RADIO The best moments of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire as Chris Tarrant leaves the show AS presenter Chris Tarrant steps down, we chart the highlights of the most successful quiz show ever in British TV history 04:53, Thu, Oct 24, 2013 Chris Tarrant has hosted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire since it's first show in 1998 [ITV] Played in 81 versions around the world, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is a British invention, with its debut in the UK on September 4, 1998. The format, in which only one contestant plays at a time and the emphasis is on suspense not speed, was devised by David Briggs, who was responsible for a number of the promotional games used on Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital Radio. The original working title was Cash Mountain. The first winner of the top prize on any version of the show was John Carpenter, who won $1million in the US in November 1999.

He didn't use a lifeline until the final question when he told host Regis Philbin he'd like to call his father Tom. Patched through he said: "Hi dad. I don't really need your help but I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to win the million dollars." The people at the other end of the line aren't necessarily friends of the contestants. Trevor Montague, founder of the British Quiz Association, once told me: "A total stranger rang me up only last week and offered 10 per cent of his winnings if he could use me. It was very good of him and I agreed but he didn't get on in the end. Why would you use your granny when you could use a proper quizzer?" ? The first winner of the top prize in Britain was Judith Keppel, who triumphed in November 2000. She turned out to have impressive aristocratic lineage. The younger brother of her great-grandfather, the Earl of Albemarle, was married to Alice Keppel, mistress of King Edward VII and greatgrandmother to the Duchess of Cornwall (making Judith and Camilla second cousins).

Broadcast the day after it was filmed her win was leaked to the media in advance and overshadowed the final episode of the BBC sitcom One Foot In The Grave. This led its star Richard Wilson to accuse ITV of "planning" the jackpot win, an accusation later echoed by viewers who noticed that Keppel wasn't given any questions on sport. The producers strenuously denied the charge, insisting that the 15 questions were selected from 40 different categories by computer so there was no way they could be tailored to a particular contestant's strengths. Since 2003 she has been one of the Eggheads on the BBC quiz show of that name, in which teams of challengers attempt to beat a panel of quiz-show champions. The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire franchise is as well known for its losers as for its victors. YouTube is full of compilations of contestants failing to answer the simplest of questions, including one woman who seems to be stumped when asked which is bigger, an elephant or the moon.

That is actually a hoax - the screen-shots have been photoshopped - but one that isn't is the French contestant who requested help from the audience on which celestial body orbits Earth: the sun, the moon, Mars or Venus. Fifty-six per cent of them said it was the sun (compared with 42 per cent who correctly said it was the moon and two per cent who said Mars) so that was the answer he went with. Some of the audience burst out laughing when he chose it, prompting speculation that they deliberately picked the wrong option to trick him. The most notorious episode in Millionaire history came in September 2001 when British army major Charles Ingram won the £1million prize. Eighteen months later he, his wife Diana and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock were convicted of using fraudulent means to win the show. Charles Ingram was accused of cheating as coughs were heard to indicate the right answer [PA] The allegation, which all three denied, was that whenever Tarrant asked a question, Whittock, one of that edition's nine other would-be contestants, would cough to guide Ingram to the correct answer. When the tape was played in court it seemed so blatant that journalists and the public burst out laughing.

The Ingrams were each fined £15,000, ordered to pay £10,000 costs and received 18-month suspended jail sentences. The major was asked to leave the Army and although he and Diana earned around £50,000 in media fees for TV appearances, including Celebrity Wife Swap and Hell's Kitchen, they ended up owing hundreds of thousands in legal fees. In 2007 Ingram was convicted of assaulting a teenager who mocked him in the street by coughing but the magistrate imposed no punishment, recognising that he was under extreme pressure after years of mockery. Ingram was in the news again three years ago when he sliced off three of his toes with a lawnmower after slipping on a rotten apple. After leaving the Army, Ingram embarked on a career as a novelist, and has had two thrillers published. He also repairs computers for a living and assists his wife with her handmade jewellery business. He continues to protest his innocence and has been supported by fellow quizzer James Plaskett, who argues that the same pattern of coughs can be discerned for other jackpot winners.

He theorises that people with persistent throat irritations (such as Whittock) may cough at certain unconscious triggers, such as hearing the correct answer. The "coughing major" saga fired the imagination of Vikas Swarup, a diplomat at the Indian High Commission in London, who mused that if a British army major could be accused of cheating so could an ignorant tiffin boy from the world's biggest slum. He used this as the premise of a novel based around the Indian version of Millionaire, in which a contestant who gets the questions right by freak coincidence has the prize taken away from him. Published under the title Q&A it became a big international seller. The story became even better known when British director Danny Boyle turned it into the film Slumdog Millionaire that went on to win eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Made for around £9million it has so far grossed at least £230million.

Dev Patel as Jamal (left) and Anil Kapoor as Prem in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire [ ] In one scene he takes the contestant to the lavatory and in all the years I've done that show I've never, ever taken a contestant to the lavatory Chris Tarrant One of the few not to like the film was Tarrant. "I was watching it from a very different viewpoint to most people," he has said. "I wasn't really following the story, I just watched the actor thinking, 'What a weird host!' In one scene he takes the contestant to the lavatory and in all the years I've done that show I've never, ever taken a contestant to the lavatory. I found the host quite creepy and the way he played the game odd whereas the real Indian host is brilliant." The biggest winner from Millionaire is Celador, the British production company that created the show. Three years ago it won a David and Goliath legal victory against Disney, which screens the show in the US, after a jury in Los Angeles ruled it had not received a fair share of profits.

The victory is worth around £200million, of which £12million will go to popular comedian Jasper Carrott, an original Celador shareholder. This adds to the £10million he made in 2006 when the company sold its production arm - and it's a much better way of getting rich than asking the audience or phoning a friend. Related articles

Question: What was the name of the Army Major found guilty of cheating his way to £1million on the TV show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'?
Answer: CHARLES INGRAM